Udinese qualifies for Champions League
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-30 08:29

Udinese qualified for next season's Champions League after a 1-1 tie with AC Milan on Sunday in the Italian league.

Udinese players celebrate at the end of their Serie A soccer match against Milan at the Friuli stadium in Udine May 29, 2005. Drawing the match with Milan, Udinese qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League competition. [AP]

Udinese finished in fourth place and claimed Serie A's final berth in Europe's top club competition. Sampdoria, Udinese's only challenger, tied 0-0 at Bologna and finished fifth, one point behind.

David Di Michele scored his 15th goal of the season in the 56th minute for Udinese, and Serginho replied for Milan in the 86th.

Juventus, which has clinched the Italian league title, and second-place Milan gained automatic berths into the group phase of the Champions League. Inter, which came in third, and Udinese will play in the qualifying round in August.

Sampdoria earned a UEFA Cup berth along with sixth-place Palermo and eighth-place AS Roma. Roma qualified by reaching the Italian Cup final against Inter Milan.

In the relegation battle, Fiorentina managed to stay alive following its 3-0 win against Brescia, which became the second team relegated after last-place Atalanta went down last week.

Bologna and Parma, which tied 3-3 at Lecce, will meet in a two-leg playoff to determine the third and final club to be relegated.

Juventus celebrated its record 28th league title with a 4-2 victory over Cagliari. David Trezeguet scored twice for Juventus and Gianfranco Zola, possibly playing his final game, notched two for Cagliari.

Christian Lucarelli took the league scoring title with his 24th goal of the season in Livorno's 1-1 tie at Messina, which finished seventh in its first season in Serie A in 42 years.

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Villarreal and Real Betis earned places in next season's European Champions League on Sunday, winning their final games of the Spanish league season.

Diego Forlan scored twice to help Villarreal crush Levante 4-1 and finish in third place, while Marcos Assuncao's strike gave Betis a 1-1 draw with Mallorca and fourth place.

Neither team has previously played in Europe's top club competition.

Levante's defeat relegated it to the second division with Numancia and Albacete.

Espanyol and Sevilla secured spots in next season's UEFA Cup. Espanyol beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 and Sevilla lost 2-0 against Malaga.

Spain's third UEFA Cup place went to Osasuna as a Copa del Rey finalist. Its opponent on June 11 is Betis, which has qualified for the Champions League and provided Osasuna with its opportunity.

FC Barcelona — which completed its season on Saturday with a 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad — won the league with 84 points, four ahead of Real Madrid. Madrid also completed it season Saturday, beating Zaragoza 3-1.

Villarreal finished third with 65 points, while Betis was another three behind. Espanyol finished fifth with 61, one more than Sevilla. Valencia was seventh with 58.

Forlan's two goals gave him 25 and finished atop the league's scoring leaders, one better than FC Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o.

"Willem II played well in the beginning and gave us a hard time," said Van Bommel, who is departing for FC Barcelona next year. "But our first goal before halftime came at the right moment."

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